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Americas Got Talent

Submitted by admin on Thu, 2013-11-21 15:11

Nick Cannon returns for his fifth season as host on "America's Got Talent," NBC's top-rated summer reality competition series, which brings the variety format back to the forefront of American culture.
Cited by People Magazine as one of the top 10 most successful young people in Hollywood and featured on the covers of magazines such as Complex and Black Enterprises' 40 Under 40, Cannon is a successful multifaceted entertainer: film star, comedian, TV and radio host, musician, writer, director, executive producer and philanthropist.

A San Diego native, Cannon began performing at the age of 8 after his grandfather left him several instruments as a gift. Through what Cannon recalls as "a lot of trial and failure," he recorded his first song at home on his boom box. Shortly after, Cannon took the stage to perform his music along with stand-up comedy.

Cannon headed for Hollywood at the age of 15 and landed gigs at world-renowned comedy venues including The Improv, Laugh Factory and the Comedy Store. Cannon went on to share the stage with the likes of Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock before landing his first television gig as a stand-up audience warm-up for the long running Nickelodeon hit show "All That." Producers quickly realized Cannon's calling was in front of the camera, and he became a regular on the show as well as a writer, making him the youngest staff writer in television history at the age of 17. This path culminated in the creation of "The Nick Cannon Show," which he starred, directed and executive produced, earning him his first Kids Choice Award.

While he enjoyed tremendous success at Nickelodeon, Cannon's career catapulted onto the big screen when he made an appearance alongside Will Smith in "Men in Black II" before landing a leading role in the feature film "Drumline."

That same year, he released his own self-titled debut album and has collaborated with a host of other musicians, such as Kanye West, The Neptunes, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, Will Smith, R. Kelly and E-40 on soundtracks and other projects.

In 2005, MTV debuted "Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out," an improv comedy show with musical performances that Cannon created, produced and hosted and that eventually became one of MTV's highest-rated shows in network history, airing new episodes for four consecutive seasons. Due to popular demand, Cannon will be bringing "Wild 'N Out" back with a new cast of talent, which will premiere this summer on MTV2.

In 2006, Cannon was featured in the Emilio Estevez film "Bobby," a fictionalized account of the hours leading up to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. His performance earned him a 2007 SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance in addition to becoming the first African-American actor to be honored at the world-renowned Cannes Film Festival with the Breakthrough Actor of the Year Award.

Cannon's other film credits include "Garfield: The Movie," "Underclassman," which he also executive produced, "Shall We Dance," "Roll Bounce," and Sundance Film Festival featured films "Weapons," "American Son," and the psychological thriller, "The Killing Room."

In 2007, Cannon hosted the Teen Choice Awards and was then invited by President Obama to DJ and host ABC's highly successful "Presidential Inaugural Neighborhood Ball" the following year. Shortly after, NBC tapped him to host their hit show "America's Got Talent." Cannon also serves as host for his own nationally syndicated top 40 weekend countdown radio show called "Cannon's Countdown" with CBS Radio.

Returning to his roots as a stand-up comedian, Cannon produced his own stand-up comedy special "Mr. Showbiz" in 2011 that debuted on Showtime. In the same year, Cannon also appeared as a series regular on the NBC scripted comedy "Up All Night," earning himself a 2012 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor.

When he is not in front of the camera or a live audience, Cannon is busy running his highly successful multimedia company NCredible Entertainment, producing TV and film projects, including TeenNick's Halo Awards, MTV docuseries "Son of a Gun," two "School Gyrls" movies and "Ragz," starring Keke Palmer for Nickelodeon and most recently directing his first studio film, "School Dance" for Lionsgate which is slated for release later this year. He also inked a multi-year, multi-million dollar first-look production deal with NBC Networks to develop scripted and unscripted fare and introduced the new sketch comedy show "Incredible Crew," which premiered on Cartoon Network.

NCredible Entertainment also boasts a successful music division, representing artists such as the New Boyz, Cory Gunz, The Rangers, School Gyrls, rising boy band 4Count as well as a product division that introduced a top-selling line of NCredible branded headphones at retailers nationwide last year in conjunction with Monster Cable Products, which has become a top-seller at retail and boasts sales projections by end of 2013 to exceed $30 million.

Noted by The New York Times as "one of the most recognizable personalities in teen media," Cannon also actively serves as the CEO of teen magazine Celebrity High as well as chairman of TeenNick, Nickelodeon's network aimed at the teen audience.

While his professional body of work keeps him extremely busy, Cannon has always made the time to use his resources and his voice to give back to the community and those in need by working with nationally recognized organizations such as Feeding America, Boys and Girls Club, Do Something, Toys for Tots, Stomp Out Bullying, Lupus Foundation of America and The National Kidney Foundation to name a few in addition to running his own Nicholas Scott Cannon Foundation.